


Opposite in All but Name

by Flufferdoodle



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25071319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flufferdoodle/pseuds/Flufferdoodle
Summary: Blue wanted to find someone worthy.
Relationships: Ookido Green | Blue Oak/Red
Comments: 5
Kudos: 105





	Opposite in All but Name

Blue knew it was Red.

Everyone knows the first time they see their soulmate after they turn ten who it is, and Blue could find no reason they would be any different as badly as they wanted them to be. Because Red was boring. And plain. And just not _worthy_ of being the soulmate of the world’s greatest Pokémon trainer, which Blue knew he was destined to be.

So when Red reached out, eyes alight with curiosity and wonder, Blue turned away and cut him off. He didn’t need this kind of useless distraction to pull him away from his goals. He would find someone better and more incredible once he was champion; people would be _begging_ to abandon their soul bonds at a chance to be with him. He would be the greatest.

While Red putted around in Pallet Town, plain and simple as always, Blue would be living out his fated dream and he would find someone to match it.

On the first day of his journey, however, he hesitated.

Red walked into the lab moments after he did, wearing a new pair of shoes and half-filled backpack. Blue felt something pull within his chest, and he wondered for a brief moment, just as their eyes met, if it had to be this way.

His grandfather walked down the stairs and greeted them and the pause ended. His grandfather let Red pick first, of course. Professor Oak had noticed Blue’s treatment of Red in the past few months and while he didn’t know the reason why, he disapproved. As apology and punishment for his grandson’s behavior, he had been favoring Red as of late.

Blue hadn’t known Red would be going on a Pokémon journey too, though.

The idea that Red would be out in the world, just as Blue, made him uneasy. Red had always been sensitive and uncertain, always a step behind Blue in all their games and school. He had no real drive or personality. How would he survive a Pokémon journey?

Red picked Charmander. Of course Red picked Charmander. The fiery, energetic creature was opposite to Red in all but name, but didn’t seem to mind Red’s drab appearance in personality as he jumped into his arms.

“Blue?” his grandfather asked. “Which Pokémon would you like?”

Blue studied the remaining Bulbasaur and Squirtle for a moment when a thought struck him.

If this was how it was going to be, both on their journey together, then they could be rivals. Blue could still see Red, all the time, but never have to come close. He could keep his distance and still make sure Red was safe.

So Blue picked Squirtle and challenged Red to a battle with every intention of pummeling him into the ground.

And lost.

Blue’s chest tightened with humiliation and misery, his reality shattering within moments of his dream beginning. Red awkwardly waved before leaving while Blue’s grandfather started the first of many harsh lectures Blue would receive throughout his adventure.

**-line break-**

Blue didn’t know if Red hadn’t meant to kill Raticate or if this was some sort of sick punishment for his rejection, but the burn of loss and betrayal sat deep and low in Blue’s stomach as Nurse Joy explained his options for burial.

“Lavender Town is nearby,” she said, “with the Pokémon Tower. A lot of trainers put their Pokémon’s souls to rest there. It can be a little bit pricy, though.”

But it sounded right. It sounded honorable.

He’d been mocked a few times for having Raticate now. Rats were beginners’ Pokémon, not champions’, and Blue would ditch the rodent sooner or later, he’d been told.

But he didn’t want to. Raticate was wonderful. Determined and headstrong, what he lacked in strength he made up for in heart. He didn’t deserve to die.

Blue should’ve pulled him out of battle earlier, but Raticate had looked back at him and Blue knew he wanted to keep going.

He shouldn’t have let him.

He knew Raticate’s limits better than Raticate did; Blue knew that. He’d observed that in training and gym battles. Raticate would heedlessly push forward until he had nothing more to give, and because Blue was stupid and didn’t recognize his limits, Blue let him die.

Raticate deserved better than to be buried back in Pallet Town. Because he was a rat, and a common Pokémon, and nobody thought he was worthy of being on a wannabe champion’s team, he deserved to prove them wrong from a place in Pokémon Tower.

Of course, Red was there.

Red was there, and Team Rocket was there, and ghosts were there, and everything was wrong and not about Raticate like it should’ve been. So Blue left flowers on Raticate’s grave and trailed Red through the upper floors and watched his childhood friend take down Team Rocket thugs with ease.

Blue didn’t know who he hated more, himself or Red.

**-line break-**

Red tore down all of Team Rocket while Blue trained hard and networked with other high-up trainers, all of them more interested in his rival than him.

Daisy called every now and then, asking if he’d met his soulmate on the road. He said no. Technically, it was the truth.

**-line break-**

Blue hung up the phone on his grandfather, the Indigo Plateau looming before him. He had been distant since Raticate’s death, scared to grow close to his team for fear that another would die. Blastoise understood. He loved and resented the turtle for it. He wanted him to reach out, in some ways, and show him it didn’t have to be this way.

But Blastoise wasn’t one to demand things of Blue. He was a lot like Red, in that way.

Blue thought back to Red’s Charizard, passionate and bright and full of dreams and ambition, and wondered if it was fate.

Blue hated his fate.

He knew it before he marched through the Elite 4, ripping them down one by one, chest tight with fear and love.

**-line break-**

Blue opened the door to his gym and nearly jumped out of his skin.

A ghost, tall and broad-shouldered, eyes empty save for a small, dim spark of hope, stood before him in the shape of Red.

“Can we stop?” Red asked, the first words he’d said to Blue in years.

“Stop what?” Blue asked, dumbfounded.

Red had been missing for years. He took Blue’s championship belt and left, only rumors of his location drifting down to Viridian City.

“Pretending,” Red said.

_Pretending that we’re not hurting._

_That we haven’t spent our adolescence trying to tear each other down._

_That we weren’t terrified._

_That we don’t love each other._

Blue rubbed his eyes, scared that when he opened them again, Red would be gone and this would prove to just be another nightmare in a string of endless nightmares.

But Red was still there, wearing the same hat he did all throughout their childhood, a new pair of shoes on his feet, his jacket decorated with scorch marks and cuts.

And Blue could feel his chest burn with longing for a bond so far unfulfilled, with hope for a chance to make things right.

He opened the door to his gym and life, and Red gratefully stepped in.

**Author's Note:**

> done a million times before but we still here


End file.
